Holy Tension

Transcript

If you would turn with me to the Gospel According to Luke, chapter 23. Gospel according to Luke, chapter 23. And if you were thinking that we were going to go back and reread the Triumphal entry, that would be incorrect. We're not doing that. We're actually going to look at the Passion narrative here.

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And this is, even though it's quite a long reading here, it actually is the shorter version of the two readings that we have available to us today. And so once you found Luke 23, if you would go ahead and stand with us and if you're unfamiliar with how I'm talking about these readings, they're called the lectionary readings, which is a three year cycle of readings where if we are to follow them, you actually end up reading kind of most of the. Most all of the Bible, like, you know, the big parts, the major themes, all of that gets incorporated in these three cycles of readings over three years. And so we kind of are reading publicly the Scripture, which in fact Paul tells Timothy to do. He actually tells Timothy to do just that until he returns.

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So notice these words this morning as found in Luke chapter 23. We'll start with verse one here. The assembly of the elders of the people rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, we found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king. Then Pilate asked him, are you the King of the Jews?

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He answered, you say so. Then Pilate to the chief priests in the crowds, I find no basis for an accusation against this man. But they were insistent and said, he stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee, where he began, even to this place. When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

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When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform. So some sign, he questioned him at some length. But Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him.

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Then he put an elegant robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. Now that same day, Herod and Pilate became friends with each other. Before this, they had been enemies. Pilate Then called together the chief priests, the leaders and the people and said to them, you brought me this man as one who was perverting the people. And here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him.

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Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him. Then they all shouted out together, away with this fellow. Release Barabbas for us.

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This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city and for murder. Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again. But they kept shouting, crucify. Crucify him a third time. He said to them, why, what evil has he done?

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I found in him no ground for the sentence of death. I will therefore have him flogged and then release him. But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted.

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He released the man. They asked for the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished. As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him and made him carry it. Behind Jesus. A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him.

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But Jesus turned to them and said, daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills cover us. For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry? Two others also who were criminals were led away to to be put to death with him.

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When they came to the place that is called the Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by watching. But the leaders scoffed at him, saying, he saved others, let him save himself, if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one.

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The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over him. This is The King of the Jews, one of the criminals who were hanging there, kept deriding him and saying, are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us. But the other rebuked him, saying, do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

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And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He replied, truly, I tell you today you will be with me in paradise. It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon while the sun's light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

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Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, father, into your hands, I commend my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, certainly this man was innocent. And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home beating their breasts. For all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things.

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Jesus, would you bless now this reading of your word and the preaching from it, we pray. Speak to us by your spirit, in your name we pray. Amen. You can be seated.

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You know, every year you'd figure preachers would figure out how to preach the Passion narratives and Easter, seeing as they come every single year and yet every time before this magnificent and holy text, I just want to sit out there with you and listen and watch. And you know, we have a tension here this week where we start the week with praise, with waving the branches with joy together, and we end the week with the disciples scattered and hiding, betraying in fear. And in some sense this week, this Holy Week, we're called by Christ and maybe even perhaps in this text to watch and to wait to see what the Lord will do. By that I mean we are to watch each event and study and actually participate in services that remember these important world changing events that Jesus will do in this final week of his life. And in fact, we know that all of the gospels in fact move toward the Passion narrative.

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So out of all four gospels of Jesus Christ, all of them move the same to the same location, which is to this final week, this Holy week, this triumphal entry. And in fact this triumphal entry, or Palm Sunday as it's become known, is mentioned in all four of the Gospels, not just the Synoptics. And they all push us to look at the events that take place this Week. And so I want to invite you just right off the bat, okay, right after this reading of the Passion narrative here. And it's not in its entirety, but it's most of it here in the Luke.

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In Luke's version, I want to call you as your pastor and friend to watch, to listen.

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Just about everybody that doesn't praise God today is cursing or mocking him. This story. And then you have those bystanders who do nothing. And what we know about Jesus is when Jesus comes to town, so to speak, when Jesus comes around, he has a way of dividing, yes, of unifying, but also dividing the sheep from the goats, those who are truly his disciples from those who are not. There's an immediate sort of testing that takes place.

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And this week, this final week of Lent might be the best of weeks to really examine your own life, to examine your actions, maybe even to examine what's operating in the background of our lives. Because sometimes, you know, we just kind of are going about our lives and not really paying attention what we have running. It's like one of those things where you leave the house, you think, did we just. Did we turn off the oven? You know, and you're worried.

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Sometimes we just leave things going and we don't turn them off. And next thing we know, we're burnt out. Next thing we know, our life is burned up with this or that. And this week, perhaps today, is a day to reconsider what it is God is calling us to. To set our aim back on who is highest, what is greatest.

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And that, of course, is Jesus, our Lord. So maybe we could just split it and say, either this week you'll praise him as you watch, or you'll mock him with your life. I don't know that there's another way here in this text to really speak out concerning Jesus. And, you know, that the Lord would allow himself to be mocked at all is striking, isn't it? I mean, you know, if there was one thing that really irked me when I grew up with my brother, unfortunately, he's not here today, but.

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So I can talk freely, I guess. But it is like when he mocked me, you know, when he made. You know what I'm talking about? Like, when somebody mocked. It's just.

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Man, that just really gets at me. You know, when somebody's like that just really gets at me, you know, it's like, okay, all right, okay. You know, it's just like this mocking, right?

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And of all people that could do something about it is God. And yet he does not exert his power here, but rather his love. And what an example to all of us. This is why Paul says, have the mind of Christ Jesus. Not what you want to think, not what I want to think, but instead, we need to be rewired to respond in the great humility that we see in Christ.

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And so I just want to challenge you again this week as we're living in between the tension of today and all the events of this week and the celebration also that we will see coming and that we know is coming to live into that watching, but also watching in a way that's participatory. That is to say, come here and gather together. Just as they had gathered to see, the women had gathered to see and were following Jesus. And all these different characters that are popping up here, they're gathered to see Jesus. I want you to gather this week.

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Like, don't come to any of the services we have unless you're gathering to see Jesus truly. Just stay at home. If not, like, if you don't want, you know, I'm not saying if you do stay home, don't equate that. I'm just simply saying, if you decide to come to these services, come with the attitude, I want to see Jesus on Wednesday, on Thursday, on Friday, in a specific way with my brothers and sisters, the family of God. All right, now we've got Palm Sunday, and then we have Passion Sunday.

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It's called Both, by the way. Today it's actually Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday. And so, again, we're kind of caught between these two events where we're looking forward to his suffering. But yet when he rides into Jerusalem here, he hasn't actually begun his suffering, but it soon is to be started. And we read it just now of how it happens.

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And so the first thing I'd love to draw our attention to this morning is just this. In the Luke 19 reading, the thing that has gripped me since early this week is this saying that is here. Jesus tells them, go into the village ahead of you. Read it out here as you enter. You will find there tied a colt that has never been ridden.

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Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? Just say this. The Lord needs it. The Lord needs it.

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What things in our life are tied up right now, tied up to our busy schedule, tied up to anxiety, tied up to our fear? You know, I don't know that I can do that. Whatever it might be, what things are tied up in our life that Jesus is asking for? And, you know, the way he often asks. And the way he often unties things is through others.

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We see this in the scripture, don't we? In fact, we have a beautiful kind of metaphorical way of speaking about it is Eve ties us up in the knot of sin, but Mary unties us by her obedience. Disobedience always ties us up in sin. But obedience to Christ through faith unties what things in your life this week. Today is the Lord saying, I want to untie that.

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Bring it to me. Because, you know, in his hands, it multiplies. In his hands, there's power given it we could never give. You remember what Moses and his exchange with at the burning bush? He says to God, you know, who should I say sent me?

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He says, well, I'm Yahweh. He says, okay, but I need more than that. And they got in this argument of sorts. But then he says, what's in your hand staff? Okay, throw it down.

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What's in your hand today? What do you have that you hold onto that? The Lord says, throw it down and I'll make it into something else. I'll transform it to be a witness to others, but only if you give it up, only if you untie it. And knots are notorious for being frustrating, Right?

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You ever had one of those little sticky knots that just, like, get big fat fingers and you just. Right. I just end up like getting a pin, just shoving it down in there to try to force my way to get it open. Right. Knots are tough.

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But I've got news. No matter how knotted up we are in the things of this world, Christ can send others. Christ calls us to untie these things and bring it to him. Why, you might ask. Well, because the Lord needs it.

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That ought to be good enough for us. The Lord needs it.

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The second thing with our Palm Sunday reading is just this. We're made to worship God, and the things of this world get in the way of worshiping God. This is why they throw their cloaks down, their cloaks. Remember, they had, like, these prayer shawls that they would wear especially on these festival gatherings, which they were all processing, like we were doing up the mountain, singing the songs of ascent and songs of ascent and so on and so forth. And they begin to throw their cloaks at his feet, meaning that his tassels are higher than ours.

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That's what it means. His authority is high. Remember when. Remember when the people threw their. Their cloaks at the feet of Saul?

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You remember this? When they were stoning Stephen, it meant that they were doing this under Saul's Authority. In other words, throw your tassels under mine and I'll be the authority for this murder, this martyrdom of St. Stephen. Well, here we're called to throw what is in our hands at his feet, whatever it is, both good and bad things.

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You know, a lot of times we think, oh, yeah, we got to get rid of the sin. But even the good things, when we give them to Christ, he multiplies them. He transforms them into what they're meant to be, but not so long as we hold onto them. This is sort of the principle in the Bible, the economy of God, if you will, that we get is that God is pure gift. He is self giving love.

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He doesn't snatch things for Himself, but. But rather is pure gift. And he calls us to give in that same way. Not just money. That's, you know, that's one thing, but it's our emotions, it's our livelihood, it's our children, it's our possessions, it's our gifts, it's our abilities, it's our education.

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Like, what if we got creative and just said, you know what? This company has trained me to do these things. How can I put that to use for Christ?

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Like, sure, the government may have trained you, or maybe the University of X might have trained you, right? But what if you were able to use that for Christ? You've learned things in the business world, you've learned things in investing, okay, now turn that around and give it Christ. What could he do? What could he transform that in?

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To bless others?

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We so limit ourselves, I think, because I do the same thing out of fear. Oh, I could never do this or that. And you know what? We're not called to do everything. That ought to be a great place for an amen.

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We're not called to do everything. Amen. We're not all called to preach. Amen. Thanks be to God.

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You know, we're not all called to do this ministry or that ministry, but we're called to something. We need to hear his voice. We need to know that that is our calling. Like he gave it to you. He gave you those people, he gave you those gifts.

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He gave you that kind of mind. He likes all of our minds, but he wants our minds transformed into his image. He wants you sanctified, Holy. That's what he wants. It's the you version, not me.

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He doesn't need another marshal, thanks be to God. You know, he doesn't. He really doesn't. He doesn't need another Moses. He wants you and he's calling you he's not calling you to do everything, but he's calling you to do something.

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About what? He wants to untie you for his use. He needs you, and that's crazy. The Lord needs it. God doesn't need anything, and yet he wants it.

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He says, I need it. Bring it to me. Okay, Lord, here it is. That's our duty today. That's our calling on this Palm Sunday.

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And then when we turn to the passion part of today, Passion Sunday. It's worth briefly just asking, what do we mean by passion? A lot of times we just mean like, oh, yeah, even though I'm more docile, I guess I gotta really get the zip today, you know. Oh, let me wave these things. You know, it's like, I'm not.

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I don't normally wave stuff. Okay, that's cool. But that's not what passion means. Okay? Even though I dare say there's something you get passionate about in life that you could equate to worship, right?

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Like, I would just say, like, if you actually, you know, scream your brains out at the tv, of all things, you could at least raise your voice a little bit in worship, right? I mean, I'm just like, could we not maybe just a little. Or if you raise your voice while you're driving, hey, buddy, you know, maybe you could raise your hand in praise. Yes. Amen.

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Thank you. See that? That wasn't so hard, right? Yeah. Praise.

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Praise on Passion Sunday. Worship. Worship is lifting our praises. Our voice, the Bible talks about it is a sacrifice of praise. We're actually giving our breath to God.

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We give our breath to a lot of things. Our words to a lot of things. Our passion, so to speak, to a lot of things. But what about God? What about the things of God?

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What about the house of God? And again, this is no, you know, this kind of thing. I'm pointing back at me and saying, this is where I've been living this week is, Lord, what do you want to untie? In my life, what do I have tied up in this or that that you want to untie so I can bring it to you and then whatever you want from there. Let's go.

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Well, the passion portion of this really is remarkable. Passion actually has the idea of being passive, that is to say, receiving something. So passion can mean emotions or affections with an A being affected by something. So typically, these passive things come to us, right? Like anger all of a sudden, you know, if these big boys are playing and they throw a basketball and hit my little girl, I immediately, there's anger that enters me, you know, it's like, how could you be so stupid not to see her?

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Right? Or to be inconsiderate or whatever else. I'm not pointing at them, okay? Just. This is not a real life event here.

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It's just a hypothetical. Although I've seen it happen before, right? No, Immediately anger comes to me. Now what I do from there, right? That's going to matter, isn't it?

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Everybody receives anger from time to time. Everybody receives a depressing word. You know, the, the. I think it was the psalmist today who talked about. Yeah.

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He says weary and it's. He talks about it being down in his throat, in his stomach also. He says, my eye is consumed with sorrow. Also my throat and my belly. And I thought to myself, you know, when you, when you hear sad news, I don't mean, you know, some distant crisis.

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I mean, we probably watch too many of this to where we become desensitized. I mean, somebody, you know, and love is hurt. There's this pit in our stomach. You know what I mean? Just sinking feeling.

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You get that call, you see the face drop. There's a sinking. Yeah. We receive, passively receive this emotion of sorrow, of pity, of anger, likewise of happiness, you know, good news. When I hear some good news, hey, so and so got a scholarship for X amount of money.

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Yee haw. You know, like that's something to celebrate, right? Something good happens to you. We hear good news on report of a procedure or whatever. Like, yes, thanks be to God.

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There's good news, okay? Somebody's winning at life. Like we should be excited about that concept. We receive that then, don't we? You see, passions are received and so.

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But the problem with all this is this. What we know about God is that God in his very nature is impassable. You ever heard of that word? That's kind of a technical word, but which literally means not passionable. He can't receive these things because these things actually change us.

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I mean, if you've ever been really angry before, your neck and your face get red, right? We can talk about it like that. You're just seeing red, man. It's like, yeah, or your countenance drops. When you've been caught in something, you're guilty.

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It's like this realization of reality. You see, God cannot change, right? God is perfect, which means he is the same yesterday, today and forever. So how could God then feel our passions? Well, he can't unless he becomes human.

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And guess what? We remember this week most of all what we feel, even Most of all this week is the Passion of the Christ. That is to say, the emotions of Christ Jesus, our Lord, the impassable God assumes human nature, pulling it up into Himself, the Son of the living God, not the Father or the Spirit, but the Second Person of the Trinity is incarnated in the flesh, fully human and yet fully divine. Not confused, not divided, but one person, two natures. Remember our little signs that we did.

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You remember that? No, three persons, one God, but two natures. Always remember the two natures of Christ.

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And here it is that it's finally revealed what salvation really is about. It's not just the forgiveness of sins. He already had the forgiveness of sins in the Old Testament, right? Yeah. They had a way for their sins to be forgiven.

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Remember, God had made away. So check. Okay, we got the forgiveness of sin. Then what is Jesus's suffering all about?

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I don't expect to know all of that, but I know this. He identified with us. Some of us have this view of a distant God that really doesn't know, really outside of all of our human travailing and problems and troubles. Brother and sister, I'm telling you this week, the answer is a resounding no. He knows what it's like to be betrayed.

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He knows what it's like to weep. Surrounding the text that we just read in 19 and 23. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, but also is angered when he comes to the temple and people are not there for the right reason. And he drives them out. Why?

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Because he says this place is a house of prayer. That's why it's a house of worship. And prayer is one of the greatest acts of worship. Yes. Jesus reveals to us that he is not out there grasping at power, grasping at this.

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He. He doesn't need anything, and yet he becomes emptied for us. Did you catch the reading in Philippians 2 that Lucy read to us moments ago? Let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped or exploited. But instead, what did he do?

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Emptied himself because he's pure gift, taking the form of a slave, being born in human lives and being found in human form. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

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He became human so we could become like him. That's what salvation's about. It's a sharing in the divine nature. Raz before the temple was the location of heaven and earth, where what is heavenly and eternal and perfect meets what is contingent, finite and imperfect. That was where the temple was.

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That was where that meeting place was. But the temple was not the meeting place of God and man when Jesus was incarnated. That's why the temple is going to be destroyed in 70 AD and not be rebuilt back. It's not the meeting place. Where's the meeting place of heaven and earth now?

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It's Jesus very body, blood. We come to his body. It is his body that saves us. Nobody else, not even us. We don't save ourselves.

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We look to Him. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name. It's not just about forgiveness, but. But sharing in the divine nature and then becoming like him in his resurrection.

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And so this week of all weeks, when we say the name of Jesus, let's say it with some weight behind it, understanding what he's done to reach us. He came all the way down to save us, all the way to become like us in our suffering. We can never again as humanity. Say, you don't know what it's like to suffer God because He does.

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And this thought is quite sobering. If he wept over Jerusalem, does he weep over you? Does he weep over Madison? Does he weep over Athens, Huntsville, your workplace? If he does, then if we have the same mind as him, we too weep for those who don't know him.

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Weep because of our sin.

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You know, there are several characters here in the text that have a unique place in Gospels. Sorry, in Luke's rendition here. And I won't mention everybody, but of course you've got Jesus here, the innocent one, who, by the way, is proclaimed as innocent in this reading seven times, three times by Pilate himself, remember? Also by the centurion and so on and so forth. Herod.

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So you've got the chief priests, you've got Pontius Pilate, you've got Herod, who, by the way, is happy to see him at first, but then when he doesn't do what he wants, he mocks him. That's a pretty strong warning for us because some people like the idea of God. Yeah, yeah. You know, God gives us meaning and. But then what happens when all meaning is erased because of suffering in our life?

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What do we do? We hold our hand up and blame God.

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Don't do that. God's down in here suffering with us. He knows what it's like.

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You know, when our kids were younger. You remember April 29, right? 2011 was that series of tornadoes that came through here and was quite devastating. Our kids Were scared of storms for a long time. Some of them still are, I guess.

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But. But back then, we had upstairs, and. And I remember anytime a storm would hit, they would call, you know, daddy, Mama, right? And we could have hollered back up there, hey, it's fine. You know, or shot them a text message, right?

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Like, it's okay, don't worry about it. But what did they really want? Well, they wanted to get in our bed. That's what they really wanted. They wanted to get close to us.

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They wanted to be in the same room with us, like, touching us, right? Because there's something about us when we are scared. If we're all honest, we kind of like to be scared with somebody. You know what I mean? We just do.

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I don't know what it is. Nobody's like, yeah, I just want to be scared all by myself, you know? No, you're deranged. If that's the case, okay, go get some help, which we all need to go get some help. No, what they wanted was our presence in the room.

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And you know what God has given us. He didn't just shout at us from the heavens, hey, you'll be fine. From a distance. He didn't just send us a text message, even though he did do that, that we can continue to read and reread, be encouraged by, hear his voice. But instead he came in the flesh.

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He came to make his presence known. And then he sent his Holy Spirit to be with us forever, in us. So God above us, God with us, God in us. Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

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Of course, you've got the crowd, you've got Barabbas, all these like, like, just take this. We're not going to do it now, but take this text today and just sort of go through the list of the various characters here. Roman soldiers, Simon of Cyrene pulled out, Carry the cross behind Jesus. The women of Jerusalem, the two criminals. Only Luke gives us the account of the two criminals.

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We don't have that anywhere else. It's just Luke who tells us this little detail. One derides him, mocking him again, save. If you can save people, save yourself. And me.

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Sometimes I feel like my prayers are like that. I got myself into a bind. Now I'm demanding, God, save me. Not the other guy, the other guy. No, just.

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Just remember me, Lord. Remember me. Maybe that's somebody's prayer this week. Just remember me, Lord. Remember me.

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Then you have the Centurion, of course, who declares Jesus innocence as well. And then the women at the end who are watching from a distance. Who are you in that story today? Are you a mocking voice? I know none of us would sort of knowingly want to be that.

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None of us want to be Judas. And yet we've all betrayed him. We've all demanded our way. Where do you see yourself in this story today?

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And if you see yourself on the wrong side of things, today's a great day to repent and believe.

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Like he he's overjoyed even at a movement an inch toward him. If you could just even turn an inch toward him, you say just overloaded with guilt, overloaded with shame, overloaded with busyness or laziness. Overloaded in my life. Jesus, would you untie me to worship you freely? The Lord has need of it.

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The Lord has need of you. Be untied today by his spirit. Allow even his servants to do the untying. Sometimes we just think it's going to be a lightning bolt from heaven, but in fact, it might be someone in this room.

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And then this week, worship him. Worship him with all Lay down your cloaks and outer garments and all stuff. Lay it before him. Because he has come to save us. He became one of us to save us.

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So where are you today? That question in Genesis right Where are you? Are you full of love for him or full of love for the things of this world and yourself? If so, today, repent and believe, and he can bring transformation in your life. He can bring true happiness.

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He can defeat anxiety and fear and depression. I've seen it happen. I've witnessed it in my own life. He doesn't just come in power, but love. So receive his love today.

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In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Total Duration 00:42:09